Match Recap & Analysis
Fort Wayne FC won 3-1 at Greenville through a lightning delay, a second-half downpour, and with Ryan Becher scoring twice on his first multi-goal night for the club. The second goal, a seven-man passing move finished with one touch, is the clearest picture yet of how this team wants to play.
Greenville Triumph SC 1 – 3 Fort Wayne FC · USL League One 🏟 GE Vernova Park 📅 September 12, 2026 ⚽ Evans (4’, og), Becher (42’), Becher (58’); Fricke (33’) 📋 FWFC Record (W-L-D): 10-8-6 · 36 pts · Matchday 24
The Match
Fort Wayne Football Club took the lead in the 4th min. Clarence Awoudor worked the ball to Michael Rempel on the left side of the penalty area, and Rempel’s strike deflected off lunging Greenville midfielder Connor Evans and into the net. The scoresheet credits an own goal, but Rempel’s shot put us in front anyway.
Greenville spent the next half hour pushing us back without breaking through, working its width and sending delivery after delivery into the box. One of those sequences produced the equalizer. Logan Neidlinger was booked for a takedown in the 32nd min., and on the resulting free kick, Azaad Liadi’s delivery found captain Brandon Fricke, who rose and headed past Bernd Schipmann in the 33rd min. Tied at 1 apiece.
In the 42nd min., James Musa wins a header off a long ball from Greenville, finding the feet of JP Jordan in the midfield. Jordan drops the ball with a 1-touch to Tiago Dias, who plays it to Bernd Schipmann. The keeper finds Jordan, who plays it out wide again to Dias with 1-touch. Dias takes his space up the right side of the field before playing a pass into the feet of Taig Healy centrally who turns his two defenders with three touches before sending a perfectly weighted through ball into the stride of a streaking Kabiru Gafar down the right. With 1-touch in the eighteen-yard box, Gafar centers a pass across the penalty area, into the feet of Ryan Becher. Becher finished the passing sequence with 1-touch, as he passed the ball into the back of the net. Fort Wayne 2-1, capping off one of the prettiest team goals you’ll have watched all season. The assist drew Gafar level with Alberto Anaya atop the club’s all-time assist list, in his first professional season.
Lightning arrived at halftime and held the second half for 30 minutes. The rain never left. Schipmann needed a diving save to turn away Muba Nour from 15 yards in the 48th min., and 10 minutes later the lead was two. Healy swung in a corner in the 58th min. and Becher rose to head in his second of the night. It was his first multi-goal game for Fort Wayne FC.
Greenville got its lifeline in the 66th min., when the referee pointed to the spot after a foul in our penalty area. Devin Boyce sent the kick wide right. Schipmann closed the door from there, denying Brigham Larsen from close range in the 69th min. and again with a diving stop in second-half stoppage time. Mamadi Jiana made his club debut off the bench in the 78th min. Final score Fort Wayne 3, Greenville 1. The season series is swept, and the Autumn Gold & Black hold the eighth and final playoff spot with eight matches to play. Paired with an AV Alta loss on Sunday to Portland Hearts of Pine, Fort Wayne FC is 4 points clear of ninth place, with 3 games in hand.
The Defender’s Verdict
Ryan Becher is finding the best version of himself in Fort Wayne’s Autumn Gold & Black.
He’s our fox-in-the-box. If you can find his feet or head near the 6-yard box, he’ll score. So how does Fort Wayne FC maximize Ryan Becher? Find him, in the box, as often as possible. And while he becomes the team’s center of gravity, he’ll open up space for a trailing runner, space he vacated, sucking in center backs toward him. That’s the space you want Healy, Awoudor and Thomas finding. The key will be which one of those players is in that area, at the right time.
Awoudor is what is called an inverted winger. A player that likes to cut inside and create chances by playing more centrally. A left sided winger with a stronger right foot. Same for Jack Thomas. Those players, alongside Healy who already plays centrally, are best positioned to feed off the space Becher vacates. Gafar on the other hand is a winger who likes to stay wide and beat you with pace. He plays a bit more vertically, and can stretch the field. His tendencies are to stay wide and provide a centering pass. And it’s working, Gafar is now tied for the club’s all-time assist lead with 6.
With an attack that’s finding its new stride post-Lilian Ricol, the next set of questions arise from our new signings. New attacker Mamadi Jiana found around 15 minutes of match time, coming off the bench to replace Clarence Awoudor. In a rain soaked match, on turf, I don’t think we got the best sample size of what Jiana can bring to the club, but we learned the coaching staff fancied him out wide, not a like-for-like substitution for center forward Ryan Becher. That’s not to say he won’t be used up top, but this match didn’t call for it.
Regarding our other loanee, Logan Neidlinger, he had a poor game at right back. Greenville Triumph chose to attack our right side, vs Michael Rempel’s left side, and it was our weakest point of defense all night. It’s something to keep an eye on if we decide JP Jordan should start in central midfield. Lockdown right wingback is the ideal profile, and we haven’t seen the best from Neidlinger yet. He has a promising engine. It’s his defensive positioning that needs to develop, but considering this is his second professional club, post-Indy Eleven, in a Mike Avery system, he’s still learning. Wednesday’s home match against One Knoxville SC will be another chance for our new signings to find the best version of themselves. For now, the players who have been with us since the start of the season are finding their best forms, and I wouldn’t tinker too much with the starting lineup. Our second goal in the 42nd minute is the final product of this Season One squad. Musa, Jordan, Dias, Schipmann, Healy, Gafar and Becher. All involved, slick 1-touch passing, built from the back and finished with a goal. That’s the Fort Wayne FC Way.
Always FWD